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29 March 2024

Prominent Aljazeera journalist resigns

Ghassan (SUPPLIED)

Published
A prominent journalist and presenter in the outspoken Qatari satellite TV news channel Aljazeera has resigned, citing the channel’s abandonment of its neutrality in the present unrest in the region.
Ghassan Bin Jeddo, director of Aljazeera’s office in Beirut, confirmed a report published in the Lebanese Al Safir Arabic language daily that he had quit the Doha-based channel. “There is no going back on this decision,” Bin Jeddo was reported as saying by the state-run Syrian TV channel Alikhbariya.
As Safir had quoted reliable sources as saying that Bin Jeddo’s resignation was attributed to al-Jazeera's alleged abandonment of professional and objective reporting, as it became "an operation room for incitement and mobilization.”
Another reason was its "provocative policy, which is “unacceptable, particularly in light of the historical stage the region is passing through," it added.
It stressed that Bin Jeddo’s resignation was morally motivated as Aljazeera highlighted the developments in Libya, Yemen, and Syria but not Bahrain.
Asked if the resignation was related to the policy the channel has adopted in covering Syrian developments, the paper quoted a source as saying: "It's an issue of principle and morality for him."
As Safir noted that after the 2005 assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, Bin Jeddo was banned from entering Syria for a year and a half because "he is an advocate of reform and freedom in that country.”